I walked with Polar bears
I haven’t been on an African safari yet but I’ve been on something just as memorable – a walking, polar-bear safari in Canada. Two-thirds of the world’s 26,000 polar bears call our country home and some 600 of these apex predators congregate near Churchill, Man., every fall, waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze so they can hunt seals. I flew up to Churchill Wild’s Seal River Heritage Lodge and came within 100 metres of some of these magnificent creatures while strolling the sub-Arctic tundra. If that sounds a little nerve-racking, rest assured that I was protected by an armed and highly trained guide and that the sleepy bears were conserving energy in a “walking hibernation” and mostly just stared lazily at me. I was almost as thrilled to see my first lemmings as a fellow traveller was to see her first snowflakes.
As for the eight-room lodge, it’s behind an electrified fence so you’ll sleep safely at night and dine well by day. The fly-in ecolodge is half an hour by bush plane north of Churchill, which is a spunky town I’ve visited twice and where you can seek polar bears from the comfort of a Tundra Buggy with Frontiers North Adventures; visit Polar Bears International House to learn about its conservation efforts; and take a learning vacation at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. Sometimes, when the stars align, you can see the northern lights and beluga whales as well.
—Jennifer Bain
Pickleball in paradise
the Loews Ventana Canyon resort is nestled beneath Arizona’s catalina mountains. Photo: Courtesy of Loews Hotel Tucson
Pickleball whacks can be twice as loud as in tennis, but as Stacy Vogwell introduces me to America’s fastest-growing sport, I only have ears for her lessons. There are ups and downs and dinks to learn and a quirky lingo that includes calling part of the court “the kitchen.” I love a good trend and after noticing so many sunny vacation spots offering pickleball – I finally get a chance to give the sport a try.
I’ve come to Tucson to hike and commune with cacti in Saguaro National Park. When I discover that the place I’m staying, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, has private pickleball clinics, I sign up for an early morning lesson to beat the desert heat. When two other guests start a singles match in the next court, I get a glimmer of why this eccentric sport can be polarizing. “The one negative about pickleball is that it makes noise,” concedes my coach. “Not just the plunking, but the hooting and hollering and laughing and joy that comes out of everybody playing.”
As a tennis pro who now doubles as a pickleball pro, Vogwell says pickleball is easier to learn and more accessible than tennis. The court is smaller so there’s less running, the paddles and balls are lighter, and the rules are simpler. Plus you can get a couple of paddles and balls for less than $20.
I haven’t played tennis since I was a teenager but, in just one hour, Vogwell helps me revive some of those old skills and I feel like I’m finally part of the pickleball craze. Now I just have to convince my family to pick up paddles and join me. —JB
